MacBook Announcement Expected on Tuesday 352
wwhsgrad2002 writes "Both ThinkSecret and Apple Insider are reporting that Apple could hold a press conference as early as Tuesday, May 9th, to announce their new line of MacBooks. The laptop will be the Intel-based successor to the company's popular iBook line. The 13.3-inch widescreen MacBook is expected to sport Core Duo processors from Intel Corp and pack novelties such as a completely magnetic latching system, built in iSight video camera, and MagSafe power adapter. Additionally, each MacBook is expected to come bundled with Apple's Front Row and PhotoBooth software applications. A coding glitch with Apple's Web site has all but confirmed the MacBook moniker for the new consumer laptop."
Pricing could be interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
Cheers,
Ian
Video computer game on tv (Score:3, Insightful)
If you're going after the college kids market AT ALL, the macbook has to be able to game at least most of the time.
Will Apple ever release a sub-notebook? (Score:5, Insightful)
As a frequent business traveler, I have been buying and using small Intel based Japanese sub-notebooks for 8 years, and would love to buy a Apple notebook that can run MacOSX, especially now that I can use bootcamp to multiboot other OS's as well. But I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Maybe Apple should licence an OQO or similar sized device and port their OS to it, if they aren't interested in building a sub-notebook from scratch.
Why not just wait until Tuesday... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:MacBook (Score:1, Insightful)
This is a great example of the kind of consumer confusion that I think we're likely to see once there are both 'MacBook Pro's and 'MacBook's on the market. Great naming scheme, Apple!
Two reasons, IMO (Score:5, Insightful)
Second, I doubt Apple thinks it will be upstaged in ANY way by Nintendo -- and I think that judgment will be correct. Many gamers and geeks will be paying attention to Nintendo's announcement, but an Apple announcement will greatly upstage it in terms of media attention, IMO.
David
Re:Why during E3? (Score:5, Insightful)
Nintendo's game console is going to get a lot of attention, but in the whole scheme of things, getting the MacBooks out this week rather than next week could mean millions of dollars in additional revenue.
Not everybody... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:MacBook Pros and Core Duos (Score:1, Insightful)
Yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
In comparison to what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Or because there's no tablet (hint- they won't do it until they get it right - after two PC stumbles, who can blame them)?
Or because the Apple market has held its own and continues to build eas of use and value? Count me in.
Case in point. My wife just bought the latest Acer which has the touted features of:
- brightview screen (a shiny piece of plastic that produces glare and fingerprints at an astounding rate)
- constant light for the bluetooth status (thanks - eats batteries)
- constant light for the wifi status (ditto batteries)
- constant light for the battery, num lock, cap lock (all of which are mirrored in the taskbar anyway)
- three USB ports Woohoo! One more than an iBook!
- a four cell battery which is an eight cell battery with four cells torn out. Honestly, you can squeeze the case and feel where the missing cells are supposed to be.
- 2.5 hour battery life if you spring for the 8 cell battery separately.
- Speed. It's a 2.something, if I turn off all the fancy XP graphics under system performance, it can almost keep up with my 1.33 iBook for general use with a few apps open.
- software. none. after loading her up with picasa and itunes, whenever something mildly novel comes up, she shuts the lid and asks me to do it on the iBook. And she knows how to work a PC - she does it all day at her job. She's a wiz at office + access, but for real world stuff, the integration just isn't there - they made this point in one of the new apple ads - and it's about time.
I'd rather spend my time getting the work done than figuring out the workaround or forking over the license fee for getting it done on a PC.
Re:Red Hot Chili Peppers Event Expected on Tuesday (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Will Apple ever release a sub-notebook? (Score:2, Insightful)
Apple may not have a choice. (Score:3, Insightful)
Now some will say that Apple does not have to consider Dell or XP notebooks in their plans I think they do. The price segment the new MacBook will be headed into will be up against the bulk of the XP systems out there. Also take note that many college age kids will look at prices and features. Since most work can be done just fine on XP systems for school work Apple will have to consider their offering closely.
Things I expect. At minimum a 13.3 screen, probably a 14 as those screens are in good supply. Base model will be a Core-Solo and max will probably be a 1.83 Duo. Integrated graphics will probably be default but they honestly should at least offer a X1400 256mb option as this feature will appeal to many college age users as well as those looking for a lower priced system to run both X and XP. We probably won't see drives as large as the Pro and will see a 4200rpm in the base model. Gigabit ethernet, USB2, FW400 and a cardslot are a given (chipsets are common for all, it probably would be more to actually get an old 10/100 chipset). figure a good keyboard without backlight but I expect iSight.
Get a x1400 256mb, Duo 166, 512 base (2gb max) out the door for 1299 and I will be all over it.
Re:Red Hot Chili Peppers Event Expected on Tuesday (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:First hand experience of macs (Score:3, Insightful)
Can you elaborate on that? If you mean they don't support Windows software, well that's like saying the Apple orchard doesn't support orange juice production. If they don't support some specific piece MacOSX written software package then I would have to ask since when is it the OS maker's job to support the software? That's the software company's job. I don't complain to Microsoft when Firefox crashes on my XP machine.
Good luck (Score:3, Insightful)
This is super disappointing to me. I was really hoping Apple would come out with a small tablet with a discrete graphics controller. I love mine [whiningdog.net], but would get rid of it in a second if Apple came out with something just like it.
Re:Is AMD faster ? (Score:1, Insightful)
Linux on Macs (Score:3, Insightful)
Fortunately, Linux runs on them, so you can have the best of both worlds: Apple hardware and Linux software.
In a couple of weeks I plan on getting one of the new 17" Macbook Pros and was thinking about setting it up for dualboot. As it has BSD under the hood though I don't really think it's needed. Installing Linux on a new Mac is more a desire than a need the way I see it.
FalconRe:MacBook (Score:5, Insightful)
It is in fact a great example of name: as one stated elsewhere, one of the issues Apple had in the past was that upon reaching the Apple Store website people would see Powerbooks and their extremely high prices, and not necessarily notice the ibooks. Here, when the potential customer sees Macbook Pro for $2k, either he goes "great, i'll take 5" or he sees the Pro, considers that he is not one and deduces by himself that there may be a non-pro line more fit to his wallet.
Customer Confusion? Not a snowball's chance in hell, and "Pro" suffixes are extremely common and well understood by the public: it's better, more powerful, more featured, but it's also much more expensive.
And nowadays you only need 3 letters to say all that.
Re:Core-Duo - really ? (Score:3, Insightful)
Are you aware that 15" are fuck fail for portable laptop? (and 17" are even worse of course). That's why some people are waiting for a Macbook (Pro or not) at or under 13" as their personal saviour.
10-14" is where you get laptops, over that it's undersized desktop with batteries.
Mac is the brand name (Score:3, Insightful)
"What kind of car do you drive?"
No one says "oh, I drive an SC 430." They just say, "I drive a Lexus.
Focus the brand!
That's what I hate about Apple. (Score:5, Insightful)
The most important feature in a laptop is portability. I don't want a fucking iBook. I want the smallest fully-featured PowerBook imaginable, and, ideally, I want it to have 1600x1200 even on a 12" screen (OK, perhaps that's hyperbole. But 1280x1024 at minimum. Fuck 1024x768.)
Why can't Apple just make it happen? I don't want to lug around a 15" machine just to get all the real features.
Re:Transition from PowerPC to Intel (yes, AGAIN).. (Score:4, Insightful)
You seem to think that the processor makes a Mac. It doesn't. Apple may well keep up with Intel speed bumps but that doesn't mean they have to make a big product announcement every time. Apple commonly tweaks their product lines with little or no fanfare and their real innovation has always been outside the processor.
Rosetta chip? What?
Re:Pricing could be interesting (Score:4, Insightful)
You mean like the 200 Dell monitors my company bought two years ago that are so dim now that you have to squint to see them for the first two hours until they warm up?
Apple has never tried to compete on price. It's always been about quality with Apple. Hopefully that won't change. Windows users are so used to being abused by cheap prices and shoddy products that they forget what a quality is like.
Control Click is awkward and nasty. (Score:3, Insightful)